Goodbye Again
by poppey
Summary: News forces Cameron to confront her past, remember the life he'doffered her and face the man she loved after years apart. They'd said goodbye somany times before, could they do it again? This is reposted, story matches the title now :P Please review!
1. The Chase

She parked her car at the bottom of a drive which belonged to a house she'd never seen before, but that somehow screamed Chase. The front lawn was scattered with plastic toys; their once bright, primary colours bleached by the Australian sun and a rabbit scrambled about in a run near the front door. She could her squeals of laughter coming from behind the house and the unmistakable scent of a barbie in full swing.

Her walk up the path was reluctant; she didn't want to have to be the one to burst the bubble of happiness he seemed to be living in. Why Cuddy had sent her, the only one of House's colleagues to have been emotionally involved with Chase, to tell him the news was beyond her. In some ways though, she was glad to be out of the country and back in the company of the only man she'd been truly happy with, although she'd never let him know that. The more emotionally vulnerable you seemed, she thought, the harder and more painful the fall would be, when the inevitable happened and it all broke down.

She shook slightly as she knocked on the door, her teeth clamped down on her lower lip as she wondered what to expect. She heard a shout, bringing her presence to the attention of whoever's job it was to answer the door. There was a response in a voice that was so hauntingly familiar it made her almost giddy with nostalgia. The door swung open and there he was, Robert Chase, looking tanned and healthy, a grin stretching from ear to ear across his face. There was a child half asleep in his arms, a little girl of about two with a head of blonde curls so light they were almost white. It hadn't, for some reason registered before that the toys and the pet rabbit meant children lived there. But there was no mistaking that Cameron was looking at a father with his child, a child he no doubt doted upon.

"Cameron?" he said, the smile almost dropping from his face as he registered who he'd answered the door to. He looked gob smacked and suddenly seemed to become quite conscious of the little girl whose fist was clutching at the linen of his shirt.

"Hey, Chase." She replied, as Chase put the barbeque tongs down on the nearby table and wiped his left hand on the front of the apron he was sporting.

"It's been a while since anyone's called me that…it's been a while since I've seen you too, Allie." He stuck out his left hand, looking at it apologetically, "Sorry, Evie's occupying the appropriate one." Cameron looked at it, took his hand in her own and shook it, grinning up at Chase. "Come in. There's plenty of food to go round if you want some."

"I don't want to intrude…if…"

"Honestly, it's fine. I'll be glad of the adult company." He moved aside, allowing her to pass through the door into the relative cool of the house. He shut the door behind her and the stood for a moment in silence, both seeming to enjoy the soothing darkness. "Come on then, back outside." He led her through the kitchen, which was dominated by a set of French doors that took up the majority of the outside wall. Cameron could see another little girl, resembling the one Chase was cradling running around in the backyard, a teddy bear being dragged along by its ear, being chased by a teenager who tickled her when he caught up. There was an old woman reclining in a chair, an oversized hat shading much of her face from the sun while a man of a similar build and colouring to Chase stood next to the barbeque turning sausages over with a kebab spear. There was no one in the garden who could be the girls' mother. Cameron felt her heart leap, a hope still there that she had a chance with the man she'd said goodbye to so many times.

**Once again I****'****ve edited and reposted this story. Thank you to those guys who****'****ve reviewed so far, I really appreciate that you****'****ve taken the time to read and review. I****'****m not really sure where this story will head, Cameron and Chase wise, but I****'****ve got a vague plot line of past events set up in my head that lead to this meeting. I****'****ve already written the majority of the next two chapters, I****'****m just finishing them off ****–**** they should be up soon. **

**Poppey :D**


	2. Old News

Chase set Evie down on her sleepy, unsteady legs and watched as she tottered over to the old woman who heaved her up onto the lounger and let the little girl nestle into her warmth and drift off into sleep. "Take a seat," he said, gesturing at the empty bench that sat in front of a line of trees and bushes. It wasn't until then that everyone in the garden seemed to notice that Chase wasn't alone; the sausages were ignored for a while and the older girl stopped dead in her tracks and stared up at Cameron, the boy chasing her nearly toppling over onto her. The only one who seemed completely undisturbed by this stranger was the woman in the recliner.

"This is Cameron, guys. Allison Cameron, Dr. Allison Cameron. She worked with me in the States, with House." This seemed to satisfy them all, and Cameron looked around at them; noticing a knowing twinkle in the old woman's eyes she smiled politely. She got the feeling the woman knew more about Cameron than she'd expected, far more.

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"They're all out like lights, Nonna included." Chase strolled back into the garden two glasses in his hands and handed one of the drinks to Cameron before settling himself on the lounger that Nonna had been sat in when Cameron had first arrived.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here." Cameron blurted out as Chase took a sip of his drink.

"Well…I've got a few ideas Allie." She looked at him, her eyes telling him it wasn't what he was thinking, "but I've got the feeling you're going to surprise me."

"House is dead. He finally overdosed." She paused, taking a breath and trying to gage Chase's reaction. "He'd been detoxing, had a bad spell – started taking the Vicodin like he used to. Guess his body couldn't deal with it anymore."

"You came all this way to tell me something you knew I'd already read in a paper?"

"Well, who was I to turn down a holiday paid for by work?"

"Cameron…"

"Honestly, that's it."

"I know it's not, if it was you'd have told me five hours ago at my front door, I'm not stupid. I can remember the date just as well as you can." He pulled a photo out of his wallet, a portrait of himself and Cameron, sat on his lap was a little girl of about 18 months with a head of blonde curls so light they were almost white.

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**Poppey**


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